I Did Nothing Wrong, No Nigerian Law Determines How You Get Married – Former Governor, Ahmed Yerima Speaks On Child Marriage

Ex-Zamfara State Governor, Ahmed Yerima has given his opinion on child marriage, stating that he did nothing wrong because there is no law in the country that determines how and when one should get married.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, the former Governor who stunned many Nigerians in 2009 by allegedly getting engaged to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl, paying $100,000 to the bride’s family, insisted that he did nothing wrong.

The senator who explained that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) which initially wanted to try him was forced to drop the case because he did nothing wrong, added that there is no society in the country that has an age bracket before marriage can take place.

He said;

“There is no law in Nigeria that determines when and how you get married. Muslims have Sharia, the Christians I don’t know what their doctrines say,” he said.

“If I had done anything wrong, I would have been tried in court. NAPTIP wanted to try the case and they dropped the matter because I didn’t do anything wrong.

“Whatever you are doing, if you are ignorant of the law, then you are bound to have problems. Once you do anything according to law, you don’t have a problem in any society.”

When asked if he would consider marrying a minor again, he neither replied in an affirmative nor negative tone.

Rather, he said that under Sharia law, there are some criteria that will be followed before any marriage would take place.

He insisted that his decisions would always be backed by the law as he would never be caught doing anything unlawful.